Portable Bathtub Used in a Shower Room

ABSTRACT

A method of having a bath in a narrow and small shower room: making a portable bathtub, put the portable bathtub into the shower room, enter into the portable bathtub, opening shower head to have a shower and to save water in the portable bathtub good enough to have a bath; while finishing a bath. A portable bathtub used in a shower room comprises a soft waterproof bath-bag, and a (foldable?) stand for supporting the bath-bag. A second embodiment comprises a soft water proof bath-bag, and a spiral spring which is wrapped on the outer layer of said soft waterproof bath-bag, and is attached to the outer layer. A third embodiment comprises a wall having a inner layer and outer layer, a bottom and a supporting device consists of a valve and an aerator; by filing air, a bathtub is formed under a shower header. A fourth embodiment is a tub which is composed by wood or plastic material. A fifth embodiment is a soft water proof bath-bag and its inner face has two float-rings on middle and opening position.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims the domestic priorities of U.S.provisional applications No. 61/145,550 filed on Jan. 18, 2009, No.61/160,295 filed on Mar. 14, 2009 and No. 61/240,308 filed on Sep. 8,2009, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention belongs to a field of bath device. More specifically,this invention relates to a portable bathtub used in a shower room.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many families have shower rooms, but do not have a bathtub. Therefore,family members cannot enjoy the benefit of a hot bath, such as releasingtiredness, improving blood circulation, easing back and muscle pain,etc. To those fieldworkers, since they cannot find a place to take a hotshower or a bath because of limited conditions in the field, they onlycan use cold water to roughly wash their body. It not only damageshealth but also causes waste water to flow over to pollute environment.Therefore, the fieldworkers need a portable bathtub even more.

The purpose of this invention is to invent a portable bathtub used in ashower room. The portable bathtub can be easily set up in a small showerroom. Thus, when a user takes a shower in a shower room, he can alsoenjoy a bath in the portable bathtub if he wants to. After finishing thebath, the water in the portable bathtub can be easily emptied ordrained, and the portable bathtub can be easily folded for storage.Since it is easy to carry, set up, and fold, the portable bathtub isalso best for outdoor use. The portable bathtub of the present inventionprovides families which do not have baths at home or fieldworkers tohave useful equipment for taking a bath. This invention also benefits inwater saving and environment protection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of this invention is achieved by the following conceptions:

A method of having a bath in a narrow and small shower room: making aportable bathtub, which has an opening diameter which is wider than auser's shoulder, and a height reaches the user's chest; this portablebathtub can be stored in a showing room with narrow and small space; theportable bathtub has a watertight door for a person entering and goingout and for preventing water from leaking, or the portable bathtub canbe folded or be pulled up to keep stand there. Put the portable bathtubinto the shower room, open the door, or lower the wall of the portablebathtub to let a user in, then close the door, or pull up the bathtubinto standing status; then opening shower head to have a shower, in themean time the (warm) water is saved in the portable bathtub good enoughfor having a bath; after finishing a bath, open the door or lower downthe tub to empty water, then take out the portable bathtub from showerroom, or fold it to store.

A portable bathtub used in a shower room comprises a soft waterproofbath-bag, and a supporting device for supporting the bath-bag; thesupporting device is a stand, a height of said bath-bag reaches a user'schest; the bath-bag and supporting device can be placed in a small andnarrow shower room; said bath-bag is made from soft waterproof material.

A portable bathtub comprises a soft water proof bath-bag, and asupporting device, which supports the soft waterproof bath-bag; saidsupporting device is a spiral spring, which wraps around the outer layerof said soft waterproof bath-bag, and is attached to the outer layer;the released spiral spring opens and supports said water proof bath-bagin standing way while using; compress said spiral spring to fold thesaid water proof bath-bag after bath for storing.

A portable bathtub comprises a wall having an inner layer and an outerlayer made by soft waterproof and airproof layers and a bottom; asupporting device consists of a valve and an aerator; by filing thechamber defined by the inner layer and outer layer with air, a bathtubis formed under a shower header; a height of said bathtub reaches auser's chest.

A portable bathtub is a tub which is composed by wood or plasticmaterial. Shape of said tub is cylinder or cube; a height reaches chestand size of the portable bathtub is able to be put in a shower room withnarrow and small space. There is a door, gaskets are installed on theside of the door or door frame, water does not escape while door closes.A threshold is fixed near the bottom of the tub.

A portable bathtub comprises a soft water proof bath-bag, and afloat-ring supporting device that includes two float-rings made by foamor material with smaller specific gravity than water. One float-ring isfixed at the middle position inside the bath-bag; the other float-ringis fixed at the opening position inside the bath-bag. While the bath-bagaccumulates water, the two float-rings are floated up and bring thebath-bag to stand. Push the stood bath-bag down, the water inside thebath-bag is flowed out.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING

FIG. 1 a is a sketch of a first embodiment of a portable bathtub used ina shower room.

FIG. 1 b is a sketch of an alternative embodiment of the portablebathtub shown in the FIG. 1 a.

FIG. 2 a is a sketch of a second embodiment of a portable bathtub usedin a shower room.

FIG. 2 b is a sketch showing the portable bathtub shown in FIG. 2 a isfolded and tightened by hooks.

FIG. 3 is a sketch of a third embodiment of a portable bathtub used in ashower room.

FIG. 4 is a sketch of the forth embodiment of a portable bathtub used ina shower room.

FIG. 5 is a sketch of the fifth embodiment of a portable bathtub used ina shower room.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 a shows that the first embodiment of portable bathtub of thepresent invention. The portable bathtub comprises a soft waterproofbath-bag 2 and a foldable stand 1 for supporting the bath-bag 2. Aheight of the bath-bag 2 approximately reaches a user's chest; the topopening of the bath-bag 2 is equally installed hooks 4. The stoodbath-bag 2 and stand 1 are able to be put in a narrow and small space ofa shower room. The bath-bag 2 is made from soft waterproof material,such as plastic sheets or rubberized cloths.

Unfold the stand 1 when using, a user steps into the bath-bag 2, thenpulls up the bath-bag 2, hangs hooks 4 on to stand 1, then opens showerto fill water into bag till the user's chest. The user can take a bathwhile having a shower. Thus, the user can enjoy both benefits of ashower as well as a bath. Pull out hooks 4 from the stand 1 aftercompleting the shower and the bath. The water flows into sewer whilelowering down the bath-bag. Finally, fold the bath-bag, take apart ofthe stand, and put them in storage. As an alternative embodiment showingin FIG. 1 b, hooks 5 are able to be fixed on to walls of a shower room,therefore, a stand is not necessary.

FIG. 2 shows the second embodiment of portable bathtub used in showerroom. A cylindrical bath-bag 5 is made from soft waterproof material. Aheight of the bath-bag 5 reaches to chest of a user. The soft waterproof material is plastic sheet or rubberized cloth. A spiral spring 6wraps outside of the cylindrical bath-bag 5 and attaches to the surfaceof the bath-bag 5. Three hooks 7 are equally separated around the circlebottom of the bath-bag and fixed thereto. The diameter of thecylindrical bath-bag 5 is able to be put in the shower room. Thecylindrical bath-bag 5 is opened upon a resilience of the spiral spring6. When pressing the cylindrical bath-bag 5 with an axis pressure, thecylindrical bath-bag 5 is folded up to be flattened. The three hooks 7can hold the top end of the bath-bag to keep the bath-bag in flattenedshape for easily storing. When using, put the flattened cylindricalbath-bag into a shower room, a user steps inside, release the hooks fromthe top end of the bath-bag, the cylindrical bath-bag expands to a shapeof a cylindrical tub. Turn on the shower to save water in the tub. Theuser can have a bath while taking a shower.

FIG. 2 b shows the cylindrical bath-bag 5 flattened by push and fastenedby hooks 7 after completing a shower and a bath. The water flows intosewer.

FIG. 3 shows the third embodiment of portable bathtub used in showerroom. The bathtub comprises bottom part 9 and cylindrical wall 8 bothmade by soft waterproof and airproof sheet, which can be plastic sheets,or rubberized cloths. The cylindrical wall 8 includes an outercylindrical wall and an inner cylindrical wall, which define an airchamber 11 between them. The inner layers 13 separate the air-chamber 11into several small air-chambers 12. The inner layer 13 has an airblowhole 14. A valve 15 is built near the bottom. After filling theair-chamber 11 with air, the bathtub expands to a cylindrical tub 10,the height of the bathtub reaches chest of a user, and a size of theexpended bath-tub can be put in the shower room. After releasing airfrom air-chamber 11, the bathtub is flattened for easily storing. Whenusing, put the flattened tub under a shower header, the user steps intotub, then fills the bathtub 10 with air to expand it, saves water in theexpended bathtub while showering, at same time, the user can enjoy ashower with bath. After finishing the shower with bath, completelyrelease air, and press the bathtub 10 to be flattened, the water flowsinto sewer.

FIG. 4 shows the forth embodiment of portable bathtub 17 used in ashower room. The bathtub 17 is a tub 21 made from wood or plastic. Itsshape appears as a cylinder or a cube, height of the bathtub reaches tochest of a person, and the tub is easy to put in a narrow and smallspace of shower room. The tub 21 has a door 18, both door and door frameare equipped with gaskets. Water does not escape while the door isclosed. A threshold 20 is built near the bottom. Put said bathtub 17under a shower head while using, a user steps into the bathtub, thencloses the door, turns on shower head to take a shower, saves water inthe bathtub to have a bath as well. After completing shower with bath,open the door, let water flow into sewer.

FIG. 5 shows the fifth embodiment of portable bathtub 21 used in ashower room. The portable bathtub 21 is a soft water proof bath-bag 22,which is made by plastic sheets or rubberized cloths. The supportingdevice includes two float-rings 23, 24 made by foam or material with aspecific gravity being smaller than water. The float-ring 23 is fixed atthe middle position inside the bath-bag 22 and the float-ring 24 isfixed at the opening position inside the bath-bag 22. The fixing methodis that use a piece of cloth to enwrap the float-ring, then use adhesiveto stick the float-ring on the inner face of the bath-bag 22.

When use, put the bath-bag 22 under the shower, the user enters thebath-bag 22. Open the shower head, while water accumulated in thebath-bag 22 the two float-rings are floated up; thereby the bath-bag 22is brought to stand. After completing shower with bath, close the showerhead, push the standing bath-bag down to empty water from the bath-bag.

1. A method to take a bath at a narrow and small space in a shower room:making a portable bathtub, which has: a diameter is wider than a user'sshoulder, a height reaches user's chest, a size can be put in the showerroom with a narrow and small space, a watertight door for the userentering in, going out or a wall of the portable bathtub can be pulledup to be fixed at a certain height and can be folded; putting saidportable bathtub into the shower room, opening its door or pushing downits wall to let a person step in, then closing the door, or pulling upits wall and fix the wall at certain height; turning on shower head totake a shower and to save water in the portable bathtub good enough tohave a bath; after shower and bath, opening the door, or lowing saidportable bathtub wall to empty water, exiting from the portable bathtub,taking out the bathtub from the shower room, or folding said bathtub upto store.
 2. A portable bathtub used in shower room for the method 1specially comprising: a soft waterproof bath-bag for holding water froma shower head, which has a height approximately reaching a user's chest;a supporting device for supporting said soft waterproof bath-bag to bestood, the stood bath-bag and the supporting device being able to be putin shower room with small space. the soft material is plastic sheets orrubberized cloths.
 3. The portable bathtub of claim 2, wherein thesupporting device is a foldable stand used to support said bath-bag,said bath-bag having hooks around its top opening for hooking thebath-bag on the stand;
 4. The portable bathtub of claim 3, wherein saidsupporting device is the lifting hooks being fixed on walls of theshower room, the top part of said portable bathtub is hung on saidlifting hooks by hooks.
 5. The portable bathtub of claim 2, wherein saidsoft waterproof bath-bag consists of a bottom and a circle wall, saidcircle wall is composed by soft waterproof material, said supportingdevice is a spiral spring, which encircles the bath-bag, and connectswith the bath-bag as a one unit, when releasing the spiral spring, saidspiral spring extends to keep said bath-bag opened as cylindrical shape;when compressing the spiral spring, said standing bath-bag is folded. 6.The portable bathtub of claim 5, wherein said bottom of the bath-bag hasthree hooks, when said bath-bag is flattened, using the hooks to fastenthe top end of the bath-bag to avoid the compressed spring to bereleased.
 7. The portable bathtub of claim 2, wherein said bath-bagformed by a bottom and a circle wall, said circle wall consisting of twowaterproof layers, which define an air-chamber between them, innerlayers separate said air-chamber into several small air-chambers, saidinner layers having air blowholes for all small air-chambers being airthrough, said supporting device includes a valve and an aerator, saidaerator through said valve fills said small air-chambers with air toexpand the circle wall to become a cylindrical tub; release air, saidportable bathtub is flattened for easy storing.
 8. The portable bathtubof claim 2, wherein said bathtub is a wood, or a plastic tub, said tubhas a door, gaskets are installed on both door and door frame to avoidwater escaping, a door threshold is built close to a bottom of the tubin order to empty water.
 9. The portable bathtub of claim 2, wherein thesupporting device includes two float-rings, one float-ring is fixed at amiddle position of an inner face of the bath-bag, other float-ring isfixed at an opening position of the inner face of the bath-bag, whilethe bath-bag accumulates water, the two float-rings are floated up andbring the bath-bag to stand; push the stood bath-bag down, the water isemptied therefrom.
 10. The portable bathtub of claim 9, wherein the twofloat-rings are made by foam or material with a specific gravity beingsmaller than water.
 11. The portable bathtub of claim 9, wherein themethod for fixing the two float-ring on the inner face of the bath-bagis by use of a piece of cloth to enwrap the float-ring, then useadhesive to stick the enwrapped float-ring on the inner face of thebath-bag.